Aristotle and Immanuel Kant are similar in their aapproaches to ethics in so far as they both admire reason or rationality. Also, their ethics, although admitting of the existence of a deity, are, to a large degree, secular, in the sense that though a deity is posited in both, divine revelation or Scriptural texts are not significant starting points for their ethical theories.

The first main difference is that Aristotle creates a form of virtue ethics in which the highest goal is eudaimonia (living well or thriving). Kant, on the other hand, creates a deontological ethics in which the highest good is acting according to a sense of duty alone and following absolute principles.